The Unlikely Savior
by tiberius1
Summary: Aeryn has to rescue John and D’Argo after the oil moon is set on fire, but where will she take them? After all, Moya has left. Episode filler fic.
1. Chapter 1

**The Unlikely Savior**

**Setting:** After Family Ties

**A/N:** Yay! I'm finally ticking a project off my list of things to do. I should have the next chapter of _Surprise Visitors_ up soon, I've been waiting for it to come back from beta. As Always feedback is greatly appreciated and feeds the muse for future projects.

**Disclaimer:** I'm still not seeing any royalty checks, so that must mean that Farscape still isn't mine. Pity.

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Aeryn flew around the Oil Moon, trying to blend in with the other Prowlers conducting the search. She knew exactly where they were, but she could not get to them, not with the others around. John had already told her that D'Argo was unconscious, and she knew that John's air would be running out. Twice, she had almost broken away from the search squadron to rescue them, not caring if the others would find her. Common sense had overruled her impulsiveness. What point would there be in rescuing them if they were captured or killed?

Finally, she heard the recall order. As the other Prowlers returned to the Command Carrier, she ducked into the asteroids, waiting for their departure. It seemed to take forever, but she knew the Carrier would soon leave and begin its search for Moya.

Moya. With the Leviathan gone, she had no idea what she would do, where she would go. There was M'Lee's asteroid, but they had no proof M'Lee was either gone or dead. She could just be ensuring them a gruesome death by going there. Moya had been unable to use her sensors, so she had no idea if there were other hospitable asteroids in the area. Given the fact the Oil Moon had been a mining outpost, it was likely some of the others had at one point been inhabited, but that did not guarantee that they were still capable of supporting life. It must have been at least fifty cycles since the moon had been used for mining. It was not likely life support equipment would be functioning after that amount of time.

But there was Crais. He had taken the gunship, who was too young to starburst, and must still be in the asteroid belt. And the gunship had the protection due to the fact that the Peacekeepers could not track him. But would Crais come back for them if she sent them a distress call? Did she have a choice?

Realizing the Command Carrier was out of range, she pulled on her helmet and moved in to retrieve her comrades. The first thing she noticed was that John, too, was unconscious. Working quickly, she managed to get the two of them into the Prowler. As expected, it was a very tight fit. Once the atmosphere was restored, she pulled off John's helmet and was relieved to see that he was still breathing. She could hear D'Argo take a gasping sputtering breath. They were all alive, for now.

Now, her biggest problem was finding a way to keep them that way.

Checking the indicator on her control panel, she saw that they had an arn worth of air, though she knew that it would last much less now that there were three of them in the cramped cockpit. Heading into the asteroid field, she decided to seek out the gunship.

Adjusting the frequency of her transmitter, she sent out her distress call. "Crais, this is Aeryn. Please respond. Moya is gone and I'm running out of air." She then placed the message on automatic repeat and flew deeper into the asteroids, hoping to find Crais and the gunship.

When her air was nearly exhausted, she heard a crackle in her radio. _"Officer Sun, I received your distress call. Are you asking for assistance?"_

"Yes. Where are you? Time is running out." She never thought she would feel relief at hearing her former captain's voice.

"_I will be there shortly,"_ he replied tersely.

She was about to say more, but found that communications had been cut off. Peering outside the cockpit, she scanned space for the gunship and finally saw him emerging from the asteroids. Quickly, she piloted her Prowler toward the waiting hangar.

After landing, she opened the cockpit and gulped the fresh air. She hadn't realized how stale the air in the Prowler had been getting. Seeing Crais approaching her, she called down. "Give me a hand."

"I see you managed to rescue Crichton and Ka D'Argo."

"Yes. Now help me get them down from here."

"To what purpose? Why should I let the three of you remain?"

"If you aren't going to let us remain, at least take us somewhere we won't die. We won't last long in the Prowler, even with recharged air."

Crais smirked. "No, you won't. It just so happens that in my mapping of the asteroid field, I found an asteroid that was a mining camp and does have a breathable atmosphere."

"Where is it?" Aeryn demanded.

Crais circled behind her and spoke in a low voice, "Why should help you? What do you have to offer me?"

Aeryn swallowed. She knew what Crais wanted. "You know I don't have anything."

"Ah, but you do. You have yourself. This gunship seems to trust you. He was very eager to have you back onboard. Stay here. Help me raise him."

"I can't just leave them on an asteroid. They are unconscious."

"For now. Once they are better…"

"And rescued," she interjected.

Crais amended, "And rescued, there is nothing tying you to them. Do you really want to continue to be associated with alien criminals?"

"And a Peacekeeper criminal is so much better?" she asked snidely.

"I assure you, First Command's interest in us will be minimal. Scorpius cares only about Crichton and those that destroyed his moon. That does not include you. And with the gunship, we can vanish deep into the Uncharted Territories. No one will find us, and we can make our way in the Universe."

She considered his offer. At this point, she really didn't have a choice. And had her life on Moya really been that good? She had been separated from everything she had ever known. With Crais, she could recapture some of the familiarity of her old life. "All right. But I stay with them until their rescue is imminent."

"Of course. I will set course for the asteroid. Unfortunately, I don't have much in the way of supplies, but I will set aside a ration for you." He walked toward command and she followed. "You do realize it is highly unlikely that Moya will return."

She had thought of that, but did not want to face it. "We don't know that."

"And what if they don't? I cannot remain in this asteroid field indefinitely. I will need to forage for supplies, and the gunship will need to reach open space. You know they will react quite violently to my presence."

She sighed. "I know. If the time comes, I will prepare them for what we are doing." She was trying to determine how best to do that when she had an idea. "You could give them a transport pod."

Crais chuckled softly as he inputted the asteroid's coordinates. "I have but one transport pod, and it is unlikely the gunship will be able to grow one for the next quarter cycle or so. That is not an option, as simple as it may seem. We will be at the asteroid shortly."

He led her to the galley where he filled a jug with water and pulled a small package of food cubes out of a cabinet. "This is all I can spare for now. I will continue my scans of the asteroid field looking for more supplies. I will need you to check in every twenty arns."

Taking the supplies, she said, "Thank you."

"No, thank you. I will see you in twenty arns."

As Aeryn walked back to the Prowler, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Those on Moya had taken her in, come to grudgingly accept her. Was it really right of her to plan to abandon them now when they most needed her? But she was not like them. She was like Crais. Besides, Crais did not seem like the same man he had been as a Command Carrier captain. He had aided them in retaliating against Scorpius. Of course, he had also stolen the gunship, but would she have done any differently if faced with the same situation? Was she really ready to die? Crais hadn't been, and she was certain that she wasn't, either. That's why she had asked for his help. Now, she had given her word, and she would honor it.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Okay, I've been convinced. LOL It really didn't take that much arm twisting, did it? Here we have Crais' POV on what happened when he took Talyn and rescued Aeryn. I may do another chapter that deals with the time between when he drops them off on the asteroid and the show picks up with Mind The Baby. I haven't decided yet. I kind of like filler fic and I can't believe that I've never done anything for this period here.

Thanks again to all those that have taken the time to review. I think this chapter proves that feeding the muses is a good thing. Or a bad thing as I have other projects I should be working on. :D Jamieson, your request was the one that pushed the muses over the edge, so this one's for you.

Thanks to the fine folks at shriftweb for transcribing Family Ties. I got my dialogue from the episode from there.

Chapter 2

Crais marveled once again at the elegance of the gunship. It was even better than the simulations had predicted. No, he. The ship was male. And like other Leviathans, he was sentient. Crais would have to remember that. He planned to take advantage of the fact that the ship was young, overwhelmed, and frightened.

He knew that he could address the ship from anywhere, but command was the control center and the place where he wanted to be. Upon entering command, he once again admired the beauty and elegance of the design. He ran his hand down one of the ribs, and he heard a soft chirp from the ship. The response made him smile. "You like that?"

Moving the center of the chamber, he addressed the ship. "Those on Moya, your mother, have a plan to distract the Peacekeepers. Their plan may work, but it will still be dangerous. They want you to follow Moya through starburst, but there is chance that may not work."

The ship chirped nervously.

Crais reassured, "Don't worry. I have a plan to keep us both alive. That is why I am here, to protect you. You are small, almost completely undetectable. The Peacekeepers won't find you in the asteroids, not in the amount of time it will take for your starburst abilities to develop. I know you don't want to leave your mother, but in order for us, for her, to survive, you must do as I ask. I will protect you and keep you safe. We will find her again, later, once it is safe. Will you trust me?"

The ship gave an affirmative chirp.

He smiled victoriously. "Ship, deeper into the asteroid field where the debris is densest." Watching Moya grow smaller in the display gave him confidence that his plan was working. He would have to spend more time with the gunship, earn his trust, but for now, he needed to secure their safety.

The speaker in the overhead came to life, and Rygel asked, _"Crais, what the yotz are you doing?" _

He could imagine what the Hynerian must be thinking. The deposed Dominar had thought he had a deal. "Saving myself, your Eminence. I'm sure to your envy," he replied smugly.

"_Talyn is not mature enough to starburst. If you attempt this, you will damage him. You may die,"_ Zhaan protested.

How little they knew about him. Aeryn must not have told them that the gunship project had been his idea. "Thank you, priest, but I know that. We'll be fine. Where no one can follow us; you or the Peacekeepers."

Aeryn entered the discussion, and she sounded particularly distraught. _"Crais, you listen to me, now. You stop what you are doing, and you leave the ship, NOW."_

It had been a shame that he had not been able to bring her with him. He knew that he was embarking on a solitary life, and it would have been nice to have a companion. "Officer Sun, if by some strange quirk you survive your current situation, and we manage to encounter each other again, I hope that our relationship away from the Peacekeepers will be a much different one next time."

"_You cannot take a child from its mother,"_ she insisted.

She would understand once she calmed down. "You forget: it was done to me, and it was done to you. Goodbye, Officer Sun." He closed down external communications and encouraged Talyn to move into the densest part of the asteroid field, where they would not be found.

After traveling an arn, he felt they were far enough from where Moya and the Peacekeepers had been. "Stop in the shadow of that large asteroid, it will shield us." Now, he needed to start earning the youngster's trust.

"I know that what the others said was disturbing, but I remind you, that I am looking out for your best interest. You know that you were created as part of a project that I envisioned. In a way, you are my son. I will treat as I would treat my own child." The others tried to capitalize on the mother child-bond; well, he would give the gunship a new one, the father-son bond. "I will teach you what you need to know in order to survive. I can teach you things that your mother never could. She is Leviathan and does not understand the part of you that is Peacekeeper. I do."

He paused a moment, allowing time for his words to sink in. Remembering that the gunship liked to have his 'skin' stroked, Crais once again rubbed on of the ribs. "Together, we will explore the galaxy, see many worlds, nebulae, and all the fascinating things available to us. We will travel far from here, find places where Peacekeepers and Leviathans are unknown, a place where we will be accepted. All I need you to do is to continue to trust me."

Moving to the navigation console, he decided that this was as good a time as any to show the ship that he was sincere about being a teacher. "The first thing we will do, is exercise your sensors by mapping the nearby asteroids. I will teach you how to identify elements and metals that will be useful to our survival, to find signs of inhabitation. Are you ready?" Once he was sure the Peacekeepers had left the area, he planned on using the gunship's weapons to mine some of the valuable ore in the asteroids for trading. As he had nothing, he had to start somewhere. It would serve a two-fold purpose, also allowing the gunship to become proficient with his weapons.

The ship chirped happily, awaiting his instructions.

Crais began his lesson by plotting a basic course through the asteroids. As the gunship followed the course, Crais showed him the most efficient way to scan an asteroid, and how to determine when a deeper scan might be required. They found a couple of asteroids with weak power signals. A deeper investigation had shown one still had a functioning atmospheric processing system. Crais marked it for later exploration. There might still be supplies on that asteroid and he had been able to take very little from Moya. They also identified some smaller asteroids that still had remnants of ore.

As they moved closer to where Moya and the Peacekeepers had been, the gunship received a transmission and played it over audio. _"Crais, this is Aeryn. Please respond. Moya is gone and I'm running out of air."_

"Locate that signal and move closer." He was surprised that Aeryn was still in the area. She was supposed to have left on Moya. Did that mean their plan had gone wrong?

Once he had her Prowler on the gunship's sensors, and had determined that she had succeed in rescuing Crichton and D'Argo, he replied, "Officer Sun, I received your distress call. Are you asking for assistance?"

"_Yes. Where are you? Time is running out,"_ she replied desperately.

"I will be there shortly," he replied tersely. Perhaps there was a way for him to have a traveling companion after all. He held her life in his hands. Unfortunately, she had the human and the Luxan with her. Neither of them were traveling companions that he wanted as he knew they would never understand his motivation behind liberating Talyn from his mother and the overprotective Moyans.

He knew that Aeryn had a level of affection to the gunship, one he hoped to use to his advantage. She could help him control and teach the gunship, and in time, she would realize she had made the right decision. She was a Sebacean and did not belong on that ship full of fugitive aliens. All he had to do was help her realize that, and that she belonged on the gunship. It had been a mistake declaring her Irreversibly Contaminated. She was an excellent soldier, and he was sure she was the reason they Leviathan had evaded capture.

As her Prowler came into range, he headed to the hangar, ready to strike a bargain with her.


End file.
